Visitors to Qingdao's coastal regions or the neighborhood of Badaguan often find film crews busy with their work.

    "The city has become the filming center - more than 40 production crews come here every year," an official from Qingdao Cultural Bureau told China Daily.

    The city's adjacent blue sea, scenic beaches and fishing villages that offer local flavor are complimented by a warm and sunny climate suitable to filming.

    Badaguan or "Eight Great Passes" - tree-lined streets named after famous mountain passes in China - is one of the most famous areas in Qingdao and a favorite with directors for its combination of building styles from Russia, Great Britain, France, Germany, the US and Japan.

    Films or TV series, either modern, rural or romantic, can find suitable locales in Qingdao, a reflection of the port city's real history.

    During the 1930s, at the inception of China's cinema industry, Qingdao's character and beauty attracted many filmmakers. The city's scenery can be seen in the famous films Down-Trodden Peach Blossom (1935) and Return to Nature (1936).

    Children of Troubled Times (1935), ranked one of China's 100 classic films on the centenary of the nation's cinema, was also filmed in Qingdao. Its theme song "March of the Volunteers" became China's national anthem.

    Prestigious films like Miao Miao made in the 1980s opened a new window for foreigners to know more about Qingdao.

    Since the 1990s, increasing numbers of filmmakers from home and abroad have used the city as the setting of their movies or TV shows. Celebrities and new dramas have brought another cultural breeze to the city.

    Qingdao's local government is now making efforts to make the city itself a film and TV production center.

    Plans are underway to make Phoenix Island off the west coast a movie and media base.

    Blocks of European style buildings in the Great Eight Passes area of the city have been renovated to provide a better backdrop.

    Birthplace of actors

    Qingdao is also the birthplace of some famous actors and actresses such as Tang Guoqiang, Ni Ping and Huang Xiaoming. Tang, who won high praise for his film portrayal of Chairman Mao, is the current president of the Chinese Film Performance and Arts Academy.

    Production crews like to choose extras in Qingdao. Directors say there are many talented extras in the city.

    The city has been the setting of influential recent films and TV series, including Women's Prison, Plainclothes Police, Cell Phone and The Touch.

    Qingdao has also played host to the International Forum on Asian Movies and Cultural Cooperation, the First Domestic Film Fair, and the Commemoration Gathering of Centenary Film Classics.

    "Qingdao holds an absolute advantage in forging a brand as a film center and developing its movie industry," said Xie Fei, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy.

    The 11th National Film Performance and Arts Academy Awards, known as the Golden Phoenix, was held in the Qingdao economic development zone last year, where the prestigious event will now be held every two years.

    More than 30 Qingdao companies are currently engaged in film and TV production, while the local government has begun to protect and improve the local setting and help forge a complete movie industry chain.